>>BOTHELL, Wash., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Epoch Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: EBIO - news), a leading provider of proprietary chemistries and reagents that enable genomics research, announced that it was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research grant, entitled ``Rapid Genotyping with Minor-Groove-Binder-Containing Probes.''
The grant, in the amount of $872,000 over two years, will fund development of a prototype kit for rapid, cost-efficient, high-throughput DNA fingerprinting using probes that contain Epoch's probe technologies. Epoch's Minor Groove Binder (MGB) technology has been shown to greatly enhance the ability of oligonucleotide probes to discriminate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
``The grant provides another validation of the power and functionality of Epoch's proprietary chemistries,'' according to William G. Gerber, M.D., chief executive officer. ``The inclusion of Epoch's modified bases, novel dyes and a non-fluorescent quencher will enable multiplexed assays. The grant also allows development of multi-color MGB Eclipse(TM) probes that can be used on a variety of commercially available readers. Epoch believes the resultant technologies can be readily applied to assays of any SNPs in a number of potential markets, including clinical diagnostics, pharmacogenomics and basic research.''<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
